By Mike Kuczkowski The official birth of Orangefiery was 2014, which means we’ve now been in business for five years. Boy, that was quick. A lot has happened, both in business and in life. In thinking about the passage of time, I’ve been reflecting on two sticky notes in my office, each of which has particular significance. The first is a piece of flip chart paper from 2014 that was the result of a one-man brainstorming session about...
By Mike Kuczkowski Last week, the coffee giant Starbucks launched a campaign encouraging its baristas to engage customers in a dialogue about race. Baristas around the country were encouraged to chat about race with their customers and write “Race Together" on each coffee cup. It was a bold move, not without risk, and it has drawn both praise and criticism. How do we evaluate a campaign like “Race Together”? I think it give us an opportunity to think about...
By Mike Kuczkowski Derek Jeter has done a lot of amazing things on a baseball diamond. He’s amassed more than 3,450 hits, the sixth most of all time. He’s played more games and has more hits at shortstop than anyone, ever. And, he has won five World Series rings, most among active players. With Jeter, though, it’s not so much about what he’s accomplished, but about how he’s accomplished it. Diving into the stands face first at full...
Photo credit: Keith Allison, via Creative CommonsBy Mike Kuczkowski Since entering the NBA 11 years ago, LeBron James has been described as the heir to Michael Jordan – big shoes to fill, given that Jordan is widely recognized as the greatest player of all time. And James has fulfilled much of the promise. Like Jordan, James possesses tremendous physical gifts, is incredibly competitive and has dominated his era. Each has been described as a basketball genius. When it comes...
Two men sit across from each other at a table, one of them turning a white and orange business card over in his fingers. - What’s with the name? - Do you like it? - It’s different. - When I tried to come up with a name for the company, I was looking around for inspiration. I grabbed my copy of my favorite book, James Joyce’s Ulysses. - Yeah? - And I found this passage describing communications between two characters. It used the word...